The 10 Best (and Most Unrealistic) Graduation Speeches in Fictional History

Dear graduates, maybe your graduation speaker was hilarious or heartwarming or you, but, as you step out into the real world, you’ll be reminded time and again of one simple fact: TV and movies are better. To prove this point, here are 10 of the best graduation speeches in fictional history (and they were definitely better than yours).

Boy Meets World

Who can forget the day Cory, Topanga, Shawn, and Angela departed the hallowed halls of John Adams High School? Aside from the stunning conclusion, in which Topanga proposes to Cory (and Eric serenades Mr. Feeny), this episode contains one of the most quintessentially unrealistic graduation speeches. Is one of our main characters valedictorian? Yep. Does that main character relinquish her time at the podium to another main character whose notoriously awful grades and troublemaking ways made him an impossible candidate for valedictorian? You bet. Does that troublemaker then break character and deliver an ernest speech about how much he’s going to miss high school? Of course. Maybe Shawn Hunter could have done better, but the writers of Boy Meets World could not. You only wish your graduation could be this perfect.

Saved by the Bell

What’s that you say? Boy Meets World totally ripped off Saved by the Bell‘s graduation episode? Correct! During Bayside’s send-off, Screech insists that Jessie be valedictorian, then Jessie insists that Screech be valedictorian, and then, of course, Screech invites Zack to the stage to give the speech that we all want to hear. Combined, this three part speech provides us with the most important ingredient of any good graduation ceremony: cheese. All that’s missing is a spontaneous rendition of the Zack Attack classic, “Friends Forever,” but we can rest easy knowing that at least one of the writers must have tried to find a way to stick it in, but decided that that would just be too unrealistic.